The Big Pro US Meets Are Fast Approaching And Start This Weekend

LRC 2016 Camel City Elite Preview: Matt Centrowitz, Shannon Rowbury And Ashton Eaton Headline Fields As Indoor Season Heats Up The first big US pro meet of the year takes place in Winston-Salem on Saturday night afternoon and we’ll be there to cover it for you. Centro and Rowbury will both be in the mile while Eaton and wife Brianne Theisen-Eaton tackle the 60m hurdles. Cas Loxsom (800), Brandon Johnson (800), Melissa Bishop (800), Stephanie Garcia (mile), Garrett Heath (3k), Lawi Lalang (3k) and Foot Locker champs Drew Hunter (3k) & Weini Kelati (3k) are also entered.
*Anna Cockrell, The 5th-Fastest HS Hurdler Ever, Who Is Racing Camel City, Is The Younger Sister Of Pittsburgh Steeler Ross Cockrell

• Evan Jager, Edward Cheserek, Cam Levins, Eric Jenkins, Ryan Hill and Lopez Lomong All To Battle in NYRR Millrose Games 3000
• Nick Willis, Abbey D’Agostino, The Eatons And Jenna Prandini Will All Compete At The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix In Boston On Valentine’s Day Previously the meet had announced Meseret Defar, Trayvon Bromell and Brenda Martinez.
  
• 32-Year-Old Nick Willis Says 2016 Olympics May Not Be His Last
• Allyson Felix Will Run NYRR Millrose Games On February 20th For First Time In 11 Years The women’s 60 will be loaded as it also includes Tori Bowie, the 2015 World Championships bronze medalist in the 100 meters, Tianna Bartoletta, Jenna Prandini and Remona Burchell.
• A History Of Indoor Track And Field In America It all started in NYC in 1868.
• College: In Its Storied History, A Regular Season Arkansas Track Meet Has Never Been Televised Until Now This weekend’s meet will be on the SEC Network.

News From Overseas

• Eugene And USATF, Are You Reading This? Brilliant Idea “Club Members, Coaches, Volunteers And (Athletics) Supporters” Will Get 1st Crack At 2017 World Tickets We think USATF members and volunteers should get the first crack at all USATF events.
• The Internet Is Making Ity Possible For adidas To Cut Ties With Sports Bodies Like IAAF “Under former boss Horst Dassler, adidas practically invented the idea of long-term deals with sporting federations like FIFA and the Olympics to get its logo onto the field. It is now focusing more on contracts with the highest-profile players, clubs and national teams and less on federations” as their individual athletes can interact directly with fans on the Internet.
• Geoffrey Kamworor And Bedan Karoki To Clash On Sunday At Discovery Kenya Cross-Country At Eldoret Golf Club
• Q&A British HJ National Record Holder Isobel Pooley Article includes a standard training week for Pooley, who got hurt right before Worlds last year.

Obligatory Daily Doping/Corruption Section

• Doha’s Bid For The 2017 And 2019 World Championships Under Investigation The IAAF Ethics Commission is investigating claims that Qatar officials were paying off IAAF voting members with “brown envelopes”.
• UK Vs Drug Cheats Round 2: UKA Wants To Ban British Athletes Caught Doping From Ever Representing At The Olympics You might remember this law was challenged and defeated in the courts before London 2012. Now their loophole is making athletes sign a contract if they want to represent GB.
• Video: Three Way Interview With Paula Radcliffe And The UK MP Who Unintentionally Outed Her As The British Athlete Who Had Suspicious Blood Values The exchange gets a bit awkward as MP Jesse Norman refuses to apologize. Skip to 4:30 for a laugh.
  *Don’t Have 15 Minutes To Watch? Read The Highlights Here Radcliffe alleges that the parliamentary meeting was “a set-up” to purposely out her.
• Some More On Russia’s Former Euro Silver Medalist Irina Maracheva, Who Got A 2-Year Ban Maracheva and her coach claim the biological passport anomalies are due to a childhood head injury combined with altitude training. Priceless.
  *AP Article: Lynsey Sharp: “Remember that time I was the only clean athlete on the podium?”
• Russian Coach Lyudmila Fedoriva Gets 4-Year Doping Ban She coaches her daughter, 2008 4 x 100 Olympic champ Alexandra Fedoriva. Distance runners Alyona Kudashkina and Maria Nikolayeva also got 4-year bans.

Monday Would Have Been Steve Prefontaine‘s 65th Birthday – Happy Retirement, Pre

• Recommended Read: Extensive Compilation Of Quotes, Interviews And Stories From And About Steve Prefontaine In Honor Of What Would Have Been His 65th Birthday Gary Cohen has put together a nice piece of work that sharing the highlights from Pre’s life and career. Includes the classic stories/quotes we know, but plenty of less known, more obscure ones as well. Quotes from Linda Prefontaine, Gerry Lindgren, Frank Shorter, Jim Ryun and more.
• MB: Interesting Steve Prefontaine Quote On Running The Steeple And Marathon One he had plans to do; the other not so much.
• SI Cover Story On Pre From 1970: “The Freshman And The Great Guru” The “guru,” of course, referring to Bill Bowerman.
• But It’s On The Poster!?! MileSplit Asks If Pre’s “Suicide Pace” Quote Is Fake Based on their research, it sounds like it is.
• LRC Steve Prefontaine Archives